Posts Tagged ‘microsoft’

Behind it All

Monday, June 8th, 2009

Well… the cat is out of the bag about CREATIVEMIX – Vancouver’s first annual ideation conference and the response has been great so far! 2,100+ visitors to the site and registration is gaining momentum. Phewph. Turns out we’re not totally crazy!

Now, before going any further, I just want to make sure you know who is behind the vision and direction of the conference, as well as the content posted on this blog. So, who are we? We are proud Vancouverites and local creatives who passionately seek the company of, and inspiration from, other creative types – people who, like us, are driven by their inspiration and “must” pursue their ideas and find a way to make their living doing what they love (or desire to). We believe that, as we grow in our creative efforts and delve deeper into our own artistic crafts, we must also expand horizontally to gain new relationships with, and understanding from, creative people of disciplines other than our own. This is our heart and the core reason for hosting CREATIVEMIX; we want to take our creativity to the next level and believe that we are not alone.

We are Corwin Hiebert and Eileen Rothe. By the time October 22nd comes around, we will have been married for 13 years. Though I’m pretty sure we can’t self-proclaim the status of “Power Couple,” we definitely live our lives in such a way that we plan for, and expect to, work together on nearly every project. We co-birthed and are co-producing CREATIVEMIX, and we are extremely excited to champion other local creatives and gather together like-minded Vancouverites this Fall. Here’s a little snapshot on each of us:

Corwin Hiebert

Corwin Hiebert

Specializing in strategic event design, marketing, and logistics management, Corwin has 14 years of experience in the event industry and has handled near every kind of event, from international road shows to local fundraisers. A one-time consultant to the largest software company in the world, Microsoft, he managed over 300 international training events in under four years. Some of his local events include the Western Canada’s largest yoga event, the “Camp Moomba Yogathon,” supporting Canadian children impacted by HIV/AIDS, the Hoop-Law Charity Basketball Tournament, and the upcoming 2009 GEOWEB conference. Corwin is also the manager for Wade Imre Morissette (kirtan performer/yoga instructor/author) and David duChemin (photographer/author).

Eileen Rothe

Eileen Rothe

Eileen is singer/songwriter with a piano-driven style and a soulful, edgy voice. She’s been graciously compared to the likes of Kate Bush and Tori Amos but has her own unique je ne sais quoi. Over the past couple of years, Eileen has been extremely fortunate to work with renowned vocal coach Judith Rabinovich (known for her work with Sarah McLachlan) and continues to pursue excellence in her music. Her debut EP “Dream Girl” (Hipposonic Records) has the magical touch of producer Jeff Dawson (John Wozniak, Holly McNarland, Daniel Powter) and mixer Mike Fraser (Aerosmith, AC/DC, Rush) and in the spring of 2008 she ventured out on her first Canadian tour that took her from Vancouver to Ottawa. Early this year Eileen travelled to New York, as she was invited to audition for a roadway musical – this has thrown her into a new and challenging direction in her career and she is very excited about it. She is also working on new material and is back in the studio this summer.

So there it is. Sorry for the self-promo . . . I just couldn’t come up with any other way to introduce ourselves. Maybe I should have had someone interview us – though that sounds even more presumptuous, don’t you think? Nonetheless, thanks for being a part of our CREATIVEMIX family and please be sure to subscribe to the RSS Feed, follow us on Twitter, and tell your friends about October 22nd.

Posted by: Corwin Hiebert

Creative People in Business

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

fastcompany_100creativesThe June issue of Fast Company Magazine features a very interesting list you’ll want to check out: 100 Most Creative People in Business.

Clearly such a list begs the question “according to whom?” since the subjectivity and bias of lists like these usually renders them predictable and useless. As well, magazines often use TOP lists as an excuse to get as many famous people on their pages as possible in order to generate sales. Both of these indiscretions are just not cool when it comes to creative people and so this list deserves a critical eye.

Believe it or not Fast Company got it right on this one (almost). The editors and staff did a pretty good job keeping the “who’s who” out and focused on people behind the people; which gets them props for sure. Though it’s not hard to lead-off with Apple, Chuck Salter’s snapshot of creative superhero (#1) Jonathan Ive, Senior Vice President of Industrial Design, is clearly a great start. Anyone who contributes so much to the success of a brand and its products and then calmly steps aside to let Steve Jobs bask in the glory belongs on such a list. Besides, Ive’s started in that role at the age of 29… all you can say is WOW.

A couple others stood out. Facebook’s Dave Morin, Senior Platform Manager, sits amoung good company (#16) with his evangelistic approach to the discussion of open-identity standards – which is cool. Morin is a creative guy who’s helping his and many other companies, and that makes him a solid addition to the roster for sure. And despite his fame and fortune, J.J. Abrams (#14) should get all the praise in the world for the way he warps time and puts the adventure back in action television and injects mystery into car chase movies.

There seems to be only a couple blips on the radar when it comes the list and they both get bad marks for two very different reasons. (#18) Susan Athey, Chief Economist at Microsoft, is being hailed for her adult-oriented questions about designs’ affect on the platform. No wow there. The few words written about her leave you wondering if they were looking harder than they should have in order to drop a Microsoft bigwig onto the list. Just because she’s asking good questions doesn’t quite make her a creative business person. That being said, Microsoft seems to be working hard on reinventing themselves so we’ll give her a little slack assuming we’ll hear more from her very soon. The amount of praise Fast Company heaps on Tyra Banks (#49) is a bit awkward. Sure she’s got herself quite the fashion media empire but her “hyperactive hand in creating” her world seems to justify adding her to the Top 100 Divas list. Again, maybe she deserves the credit; creativity does come in all kinds of crazy, Fast Company just didn’t provide much evidence on this one.

Now what about us? What if we made a list of our own? Who are the great thinkers and rising stars of business we’ve heard of or have worked at? Leave a comment below with your Top 5 Most Creative Business People and we’ll combine them to make our own CREATIVMIX Top 100 (or fewer, depending on the comments of course; besides nothing says social networking quite like a Top 17 list).